Biography of jacob

The popular Christmas song, Carol of the Bells, is based on a Ukrainian folk song that initially had nothing to do with Christmas and was, in fact, popular in pre-Christian Ukraine.

How did this folk song become such a popular American Christmas carol, and what was its journey from a Ukrainian folk song to a modern choral favorite?

For a Christmas concert, Ukrainian choral conductor, arranger, composer, writer, musicologist, and lecturer Oleksander Koshyts commissioned a song based on Ukrainian folk melodies and created a national chorus to sing it.

Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych accepted the commission and adapted an old folk song into “Shchedryk,” which he premiered in Kyiv in December The Ukrainian word shchedryj means “bountiful.”

Leontovych was a prodigious choral conductor, composer, and teacher.

Mykola leontovych biography of abraham lincoln Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych His music was inspired by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko and the Ukrainian National Music School. Leontovych specialised in a cappella choral music, ranging from original compositions, to church music, to elaborate arrangements of folk music.

Born in to a religious family in southwestern Ukraine, he completed seminary theological studies. He produced over other classic works for choirs all over Ukraine and Russia.

The original was a New Year‘s song, sung in April (old calendar) in pre-Christian Ukraine. Only after Orthodox Christianity came to Ukraine in the 9th and 10th centuries did the calendar change to the Julian Calendar, and the date of the New Year moved to January 13–14 (of our Gregorian Calendar), hence becoming associated with the Feast of Epiphany.

The folk song, known as “The Little Swallow,” ushered in the New Year of Spring by describing a swallow swooping into a house and calling out the master to herald a bountiful new year, asking him to look at his livestock and what the coming Spring will bring, including a beautiful dark-eyebrowed wife.

In March , the Russian Romanov dynasty, which had ruled part of Ukraine, fell.

For a short time, an independent Ukrainian state was declared in See my articles: History of Ukraine.

Symon Petliura, the Ukrainian president, realized the value of promoting Ukrainian culture, language, and music worldwide to gain support for the new state.

Mykola leontovych biography of abraham Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych (Ukrainian: Микола Дмитрович Леонтович, pronounced [mɪˈkɔlɐ dmɪˈtrɔʋet͡ʃ ɫeɔnˈtɔʋet͡ʃ] ⓘ; 13 December [ O.S. 1 December] – 23 January ) was a Ukrainian composer, conductor, ethnomusicologist, and teacher. His music was inspired by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko and the Ukrainian National Music School.

Under Alexander Koshetz‘s leadership, Ukraine first sent a choir of fifty men and women to Prague, Czechoslovakia, on May 11,

Then, the choir went to ten European countries and North and South America over three years. But Shchedryk was the standout “hit” from their repertoire. It was universally loved.

“Schedryk is one of the most beautiful songs of the program.” — Punch Magazine

“A masterpiece of folk art.” — Le XX Siecle (The 20th Century) — Brussels newspaper

“Ukraine’s cultural maturity must legitimize its political independence for the world.” — Vienna press

On October 5, , the Ukrainian Republican Kapelle choir debuted the song on their first stop in the US at a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert in New York City.

“a marvel of technical skill.” — New York Tribune

“a profound unanimity of feeling that aroused genuine emotion among the listeners.” — New York Herald

“simply spontaneous in origin and artistically harmonized.” — New York Times

Even so, the New York Times confused their origin as from “Little” (or Southern) Russia, and the choir corrected the reporters.

They visited 36 US states and cities.

Few at the New York concert would know that a year earlier, the song’s writer, Leontovych, had been assassinated by the Bolshevik secret police, which later became the KGB. Russia declared Ukraine part of the Soviet Union two months later, in December Petliura was killed in the middle of a Paris street on May 25,

In , over a decade after it debuted in the US, American composer Peter Wilhousky, who had Ukrainian roots, wrote English lyrics to the Ukrainian song with an explicit Christmas theme and named it “Carol of the Bells.”

He ed his new lyrics, and because he was director of music in New York City schools and broadcasted it on NBC Radio, the song became immensely popular.

Demand for the sheet music soared.

The song used an ostinato 4-note repeating pattern that is as recognizable as the opening to Beethoven‘s 5th Symphony.

Hark, how the bells
Sweet, silver bells
All seem to say
“Throw cares away”

Christmas is here
Bringing good cheer
To young and old
Meek and the bold…

You’ve heard this music elsewhere:

• Used in the André sparkling wine Christmas ad, with glasses clinking like bells.

• Featured in a scene in the film Home Alone

• Used in a NBA ad

• Shown on a episode of The Simpsons

• Featured in a Audi Christmas ad

Over years after it first came to America, recently, a concert at Carnegie Hall was hosted by Martin Scorsese and Ukrainian-American actress Vera Farmiga.

The Ukrainian Children’s Choir presented Shchedryk along with the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York and the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of North America, who sang Christmas songs and contemporary Ukrainian choral works.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian

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